Rigged, State-Capitalist economic system "regulated" by self-serving, plutocratic grifters destined to melt down every five years

Things were falling apart. We had no playbook and no tools…Life’s about choices. We had no good choices…We allowed this huge financial system to emerge without any meaningful constraints…The size of the shock was larger than what precipitated the Great Depression.

Indeed, there are some signs that we've been in a depression for a number of years.

Geithner also warned that another financial crisis will hit:

“It will come again. There will be another storm,” warned Geithner, who in early 2009 succeeded Paulson as treasury secretary. “But it’s not going to come for a while.”

***

“I’m certain we will” experience another catastrophe—he just couldn’t say when or what kind.

“You will not know,” he answered when Sorkin tried to pin him down. “It’s not going to be possible for people to capture risk with perfect foresight and knowledge.”

As I noted last year:

Greenspan says that the financial crisis was caused by a once-in-100-year event.

Tim Geithner says its more like once every 40 years.

Jamie Dimon implies every 5-7 years.

But Simon Johnson says its really once every 5 years:

Would the American people stand for the lack of any real reform if they knew that the financial system will likely melt down again within the next 5 years? [given that the crisis started in 2007, that means that the next crisis will hit in 2012 ... if nothing blows up in the meantime]

Geithner has been a big part of the problem.

He's previously said that his job as head of the New York Fed wasn't as a regulator, even though one of the Fed's core jobs is to regulate. As Dylan Ratigan writes:

In Geithner's own words during confirmation hearings in March: "First of all, I've never been a regulator...I'm not a regulator." According to the New York fed bank's Web site, that was your job!! Quoting from the Fed's website: "As part of our core mission, we supervise and regulate financial institutions in the Second District." That district of course is the epicenter for bailed out banks and billion dollar bonuses.

(In other words, the 2007-2008 shock was even bigger than the one leading up to the Great Depression because Geithner and the other regulators were sitting on their hands.)...MORE...LINK